Variational Pragmatics

Abstract

Variational pragmatics is the study of how language use varies within one language as a result of such macrosocial factors as region, gender, age, ethnic identity, and socioeconomic class. The entry sketches the field of variational pragmatics, introducing the framework and methodologies employed to date before then turning to the social relevance of variational pragmatic research, implications for the classroom and possible future developments in the area.

Politeness strategies in Ugandan English: making requests and responding to thanks

“…Variational pragmatics (cf. Barron 2014) predicts this kind of scenario, as it underscores the role of micro-social variables with respect to interlocutor status in determining the choice of formulae to use in an act of communication.…”

“…But most strikingly was the reason why some respondents did not choose (10a), which was said to only be appropriate if the requestee is socially close to the requester. If this is considered as a representative view, then it brings into play the micro-social parameters advanced in variational pragmatics (Barron 2014) as important variables that determine the form that a speaker adopts in a given speech act. Remarkably, the use of first in (10a) is a calque from indigenous languages.…”

“…A related framework to postcolonial pragmatics in terms of recognizing regional and social variation as well as micro-social variables in the use of language in context is variational pragmatics (Barron and Schneider 2009). The theory combines pragmatics and variational sociolinguistics and is seen as "the study of intralingual macrosocial pragmatic variation" (Barron 2014: 1) that deals with how speakers of a given variety, say of English, realize speech acts involving linguistic actions such as requests, apologies, offers, appreciation, etc. in a given context.…”

On the Intersection between Variational and Contrastive Pragmatics: An Analysis of Requests for Repair in Complaints by German-Speaking Belgians

“…For the act of requesting, a distinction is generally made between the head act of the request, in which internal modifications occur, and external modifications such as utterances of dissatisfaction, accusations, threats, excuses or explanations before or after the actual request for repair Barron, 2005Barron, , 2014. A last reaction type is 'opting-out' , when the complainer chooses not to complain at all (see also Chen et al, 2011).…”

Book review: Larssyn Staley, Socioeconomic Pragmatic Variation: Speech Acts and Address Forms in Context

“…Variational pragmatics (VP), an interdisciplinary field straddling pragmatics and variationist sociolinguistics, was officially established with a series of publications by Schneider and Barron since 2005 (for the development of VP, see Barron (2017)); it is devoted to investigating the effect of macro-social factors (e.g. region, gender, socioeconomic status, ethnic identity and age) on intralingual pragmatic variation.…”